You are unable to recognize your own medical condition, regardless of evidence or explanation. This trait is always accompanied by at least one more trait. Regardless of the trait(s) you have, you will act as if you did not have one or more of them, (50 percent chance to recognize each of them, at least one not recognized) regardless of the consequences. You may deny the condition, explain it away, or change the subject. This is not stubbornness — your mind is incapable of recognizing the condition.
Real-world Examples
Anosognosia
Assistive Options
What this trait needs most is patience and understanding that it’s a condition, not an intention.
Magical Assistance
Any assistance will need to address the traits. The challenge is convincing the user that it’s needed.
Your tendons and joints are pliable, making basic tasks like sitting upright or moving painful. You take (IE) × 10 percent less damage from all bludgeoning damage. Your movement rate is reduced by (IE) × 10 percent, and you have a +(IE) bonus on all saving throws against bludgeoning, force, or thunder damage, but when you take bludgeoning, force, or thunder damage, you must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw to avoid falling prone as your joints buckle. The DC equals 8 + (IE) or half the damage you take, whichever number is higher. If you take damage from multiple sources, such as a club and a ram, you make a separate saving throw for each source of damage. You also can benefit from a +(IE) bonus to all rolls against being restrained or grappled, although this also causes (IE) psychic damage if you use this bonus due to the pain. You’ve learned a lot about your own bones and joints, so you have a +(IE) bonus to Wisdom (Medicine) checks related to bones and joints. If you have multiple traits, you may choose Dislocation and Hyperelasticity as one or more of them.
Braces over your limbs and joints can give you a +1 to the Dexterity saving throws to avoid falling prone but also cause a −1 penalty on all Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.
Disproportionate Growth
August 3, 2022
1d4 areas of your body are (IE) × 20 percent smaller than their typical proportion for your ancestry. Choose or roll on the following table. This smaller stature allows you to hide more easily, giving you a +(IE) bonus on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
d20
Shortened Area
1–4
Trunk
5–7
Arms & Hands
8–10
Legs & Feet
11–13
Arms
14–16
Legs
17–20
Head
Trunk. Because most of your internal organs are in your trunk, some are underdeveloped, causing a −(IE) penalty on Constitution saving throws.
Arms & Hands. You can’t use 2-handed weapons effectively. Because you have less leverage, you have a −(IE) penalty on contested Strength checks.
Legs & Feet. Your movement speed is reduced by (IE) × 5 feet. You also have a −(IE) penalty on Dexterity checks to balance.
Arms. Your arms are shorter, but your hands are average size. Because you have less leverage, you have a −(IE) penalty on contested Strength checks.
Legs. Your legs are shorter, but your feet are average size. Your movement speed is reduced by (IE) × 5 feet.
Head. The reduced size of your head causes (IE) other traits according to the following table, each with its own IE.
Wheelchairs and other mobility devices can be helpful to assist with some of the penalties associated with these traits.
Magical Assistance
Magic items that give magical strength such as a Girdle of Giant Strength can assist with the Strength penalties of some of these.
Dislocation
August 3, 2022
(IE) of your joints dislocate(s) easily. Whenever you make a Strength ability check or attack roll or melee attack, stand or walk for 20 ÷ (IE) minutes, walk on difficult terrain or stairs for 10 ÷ (IE) minutes, or take bludgeoning, force, or thunder damage, you must succeed on a DC 8 + (IE) Strength saving throw. If these rolls or damage happen multiple times in consecutive rounds, or for each 10 minutes of difficult standing or walking, the IE increases by 1 until you rest for 1 round per added IE. On failure, a joint subluxates (partially dislocates). If you fail by more than 5, the joint dislocates. Use the following table to determine which joint.
d10
Joint Dislocation
1
Finger
2–3
Shoulder
4–5
Ribs
6
Knee
7
Elbow
8–9
Hip
10
Jaw
After a subluxation, you experience a −1 penalty on all rolls with that joint until you take a long rest. After a dislocation, you must succeed on a subsequent DC 8 Strength check to put the joint back together, using 1 action. (You can receive help resetting it.) On a successful attempt to reset it, you can use the limb, but you experience a −(IE) penalty on all rolls with that joint due to post-dislocation pain until you take a short rest. Following a long rest or getting up from being prone, you must succeed on a DC 8 + (IE) Strength saving throw or have another subluxation or dislocation as above from the way you were laying on the joint. If you have multiple traits, you may choose Pain, Skeletal Flexibility or Hyperelasticity as one or more of them.
Real-world Examples
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Hypermobility Syndrome
Assistive Options
Wearing a brace can reduce the IE by 1 but causes a −1 penalty on Dexterity checks using that limb. Surgery (IE × 100 gp), requiring a successful DC (IE) + 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check, may prevent Dislocation, but it limits joint movement afterward, giving you a permanent −2 penalty on applicable Strength (Athletics) and Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.
Magical Assistance
Healing magic specifically applied to the limb, once reset, can remove the penalty for the post-dislocation pain instead of restoring hit points.
Skeletal Difference
August 3, 2022
(IE) areas of your body are not the shape typical for your ancestry—curved, rotated, bulbous, or otherwise different. Roll on the following table for the locations:
d10
Area
1–2
Ribs
3–6
Arm
7−10
Leg
Ribs. Your ribs are too small for your chest. You have trouble breathing as your ribs press on your lungs. Every minute of exertion, such as combat, a walking forced march, or climbing, you need to either succeed on a DC 5 + (IE) Constitution saving throw—increasing cumulatively by 1 every minute of exertion—or take one level of exhaustion until taking a short rest.
Arm. Your arm bone curves or is underdeveloped such that you have a −(IE) penalty on all Strength checks and melee attack rolls that use your arms.
Leg. Your leg bone curves or is underdeveloped such that you have a −(IE) penalty on all Strength checks and melee attack rolls that use your legs.
Real-world Examples
Paget’s Disease of Bone, Neurofibromatosis, Jeune Syndrome, Spondylocostal Dysplasia, Spondylothoracic Dysplasia, Phocomelia
Assistive Options
Depending on the nature of the malformation, a prosthetic might help reduce the penalty by 1 in some instances. For other manifestations, a wheelchair or other mobility device may help.
Calcification
August 3, 2022
You have calcium deposits building up in your body. This results in (IE) × 10 percent of your body being covered in horn-like extrusions. You can use these deposits as an unarmed attack causing 2 (1d4) + Strength modifier piercing damage. You are unable to wear most armor without it being custom made, costing 200 percent + (IE) × 10 percent and taking 100 percent + (IE) × 10 percent time to smith. You have a −(IE) penalty on disguise attempts and a −(IE) penalty on Charisma (Persuasion) checks. Calcification occurs internally, too, which is usually harmless but could lead to painful complications. Every 28 days, roll 1d20. On a 1, you must succeed on a DC 5 Constitution saving throw. Each time this happens (regardless of the result of the saving throw), the DC increases by 1, and each time you fail the saving throw, the original roll increases by 1, making it more likely to happen in the future. On a failed saving throw, you experience internal pain, 2 (1d4) psychic damage, until you succeed on a daily Constitution saving throw of the same value as the one you failed.
Real-world Examples
Kidney Stones, Hypercalcemia, Osteophytes (In real life, calcification is purely internal. Its expression here is a fantasy exaggeration, and those wishing for a more realistic representation can use just the internal mechanics.)
Assistive Options
Drinking twice the usual amount of water every day gives a +1 bonus to Constitution saving throws against internal calcification complications.
Magical Assistance
Magical healing applied directly to the source of internal pain will heal that occurrence but not heal other damage.
Altered Growth
August 3, 2022
Your bones grew more than normal (50 percent) or less than normal (50 percent).
If more, then your height is (IE) × 10 percent more than the typical maximum height for your ancestry. Because of the strain that this puts on your body, you have a −(IE) penalty on all Constitution checks, and clothing and armor usually costs an additional 100 percent + (IE) × 10 percent.
If less, your height is (IE) × 10 percent less than the typical minimum for your ancestry. The same hormonal deficiency that reduces growth also reduces some organ development, so you have a −(IE) penalty on Constitution saving throws.
Real-world Examples
Acromegaly, Gigantism, Growth Hormone Deficiency, Down Syndrome
Assistive Options
These traits have no mundane assistive devices. Some with these traits pose as those of other ancestries such as short humans as halflings, although halflings and those familiar with them notice the difference in body proportions.
Magical Assistance
The Enlarge/Reduce spell and items that duplicate its effects assist with the size difference but do not remove the Constitution penalties.